Backyard Buck by Corie Kazee 1/05 Ashland, Ky My name is Corie Kazee and I live in Ashland, Ky. I am 27 years old and I have been hunting for 12 years now and I finally got my first buck kill with a bow this year. I have killed numerous does with my bow but never a buck. Little did I know that my first buck with a bow would be such a trophy. Back in June my wife starting telling me about a "monster buck" that she was seeing in our backyard. She described it to me as having "8 or 9 points and a spread out past it's ears." I said "OK if you say so." Well, this went on through June and half way through July. She would call me every once in a while and say the buck was in the yard but by the time I would get there the buck was gone. I kept telling her that she must be joking with me and that she needed to take a picture of it or video before I would believe her. I kept watching for the buck day in and day out and finally a 8 pointer showed up one evening so I had my wife come to the window to see if this was the "monster buck" and she said yes. I told her she needed to brush up her judging skills because this deer wasn't even close to being out past it's ears on the spread. She me told that it couldn't be the buck then. Just as I starting giving her the ole "yeah whatever you just can't judge deer" another buck appeared from the woods behind the small one. When I saw this deer my jaw dropped open and I started scrambling for my binoculars I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Here in my backyard which is located in the middle of a city populated of 27,000+ was a "monster buck" with 19 points and an inside spread I guessed at 18 inches. I stood in awe as I watched this buck feed for 45 minutes on the honeysuckle bush in my backyard. After this encounter, I kept a close eye on my backyard. I saw the buck a total of 10 times before season came in and I was anticipating the opening day of bow season. Well, opening day finally came. Unfortunately for me the buck never showed up. The second day came and went still no big buck. I kept thinking about last year when I watched a wide rack 8 pointer all summer and when season came in I never saw the buck again. On the third day of the season which was Sept. 8th I was in my basement gathering tools to work on my lawnmower. I popped the basement door open tools in hand and as I walked outside I just happened to look down the hill and there stood the huge buck feeding on browse and he was facing away from me. Well, I immediately backed up into the basement and dropped my tools carefully trying to keep noise to a minumum.I reached up and lock the door open and I went for my hunting equipment. I had to dig through my backpack to find my release and my bushnell range finders. It seemed like it was taking forever but it was actually only a couple of minutes. I finally got my release on and strapped my range finders around my neck. I knocked an arrow and walked back over to the basement door. I peeked outside and saw that the buck was still feeding but it had made to the very bottom of my yard. I eased my range finders up and found that the deer was 47yards away and downhill. I have never took a shot at this distance. I haven't even practiced this far of a shot. I thought about it for a moment and decided since it was a wide open shot and I was shooting a Mathew's that the shot shouldn't be a problem. I put my 50 yard pin of my extreme sights about an inch above the shoulder took a deep breath and released. I watched the arrow sail through the air towards the buck and finally make contact with him. I couldn't see exactly where the arrow penetrated him but knew it had to be a good shot because he just about fell when he turned to run. After the deer was out of sight I had to sit down because I was shaking so much. I was so excited. I couldn't believe that I had just stuck the biggest buck that I have ever seen in my life. Not only was it big but it was still in full velvet. I gave the buck an hour before I walked down to check out the blood trail. That was the single longest hour of my life. I grabbed my bow and walked down to where the buck was standing when shot him and I found the blood trail. I started following it and 30 yards in I jumped the buck up. It ran about 20 yards and stopped. When it turned to look back at me I already had my Matthew's drawed backed and released another carbon arrow. The buck went back down 40 yards later. When the buck hit the ground I backed out of there and went back to the house. I called a buddy of mine and had him to come over to help me get the deer out of the woods. When he arrived we walked to where the buck was. As I Layed my hands on the deer I started shaking again. I was so happy that I was able to shoot such a huge deer. It ended up having a 19 3/4 inside spread and 19 points. My buddy had a computer program that showed how to score deer so we scored mine. We scored it at 179 1/4 non-typical and 159 1/4 typical. I can't wait to get it back from the taxidermist to get it officially scored. I have nicknamed the buck as my "Backyard Buck." Some of my friends give me a hard time about killing the deer instead of congratulating me. They say that it wasn't real hunting since I killed it in my backyard. I tell them that there is no difference in me watching this buck for three months and killing it and them watching deer where they hunt and killing them. I thought my friends would be happy for me but I guess I was wrong. Thanks for letting me tell my story.I wish all of the hunters out there good luck and safe hunting. Corie Kazee